DoorDash Driver Used CPR To Save A Motorcyclist’s Life After 24-Year-Old Woman Ran Him Over & Drove Away With The Motorcycle Still Attached To Her Car
"I’m just glad I was there at the right time and I was able to help him.”
Velimir Zeland | Shutterstock The community of West Melbourne, Florida, is in shock following a harrowing hit-and-run crash between an SUV and a motorcyclist that has left the rider in critical condition.
But it truly could have been, and nearly was, so much worse. After the driver who hit him drove off, the motorcyclist's life was saved by a nearby DoorDash worker who jumped in to help just in time.
A DoorDash driver saved the motorcyclist's life by intervening and giving him CPR.
Billy Leblanc, a DoorDash driver, witnessed the horrifying crash that occurred Sunday at the intersection of Dairy Road and Highway 192 in West Melbourne, where 23-year-old motorist Rebekah Tate plowed into the 34-year-old motorcyclist named John. She drove over his motorcycle and hit him so hard his helmet flew off, leaving him with "life-threatening injuries," according to local police.
Leblanc came upon the accident while out making DoorDash deliveries and described what he saw. “He was laying there motionless, kind of face down in the ground,” he told local media. "As I got closer, I noticed that there was a helmet in the road and just debris everywhere."
Seeing that there was no car or motorcycle at the scene, it quickly became clear it was a hit-and-run, and he immediately jumped into action. He began doing chest compressions and CPR on John where he lay and was able to get him breathing again while waiting for emergency personnel, saving his life.
The driver fled the scene of the crash with the man's motorcycle still attached to her car and is facing multiple charges.
“I would hope that anybody would do that who came across something like that, and I think most people would,” LeBlanc went on to say of the incident. “It’s just sad that somebody would actually leave them there like that, motionless, and not help them."
That is precisely what Tate decided to do, unfortunately. After the harrowing crash, she drove off with John's motorcycle still attached to her vehicle, hiding at a nearby Hyundai dealership while she tried to get the motorcycle off the undercarriage.
West Melbourne Police Lieutenant Graig Erenstoft said Tate was then seen, presumably on surveillance footage, making a phone call on her cell phone and being picked up in a black sedan shortly thereafter.
She was apprehended and taken to jail and has been charged with leaving the scene and tampering with evidence due to her attempts to get the motorcycle off her car. She appeared in court days later and is being held on a $17,500 bond.
The motorcyclist is currently hospitalized with multiple injuries, and a GoFundMe has been launched to help him.
Leblanc told local media that he's mystified by Tate fleeing the scene. "She was obviously scared, but still, just call 911 at the bare minimum," he said, going on to explain just how dire John's condition was.
"He wasn’t conscious, but I was just telling him just hang in there, ambulance is on the way, and just be strong,” he said. "He’s fighting, and he’s doing good from what I hear, or he’s doing better."
John's loved ones confirmed in a GoFundMe post that while he is improving, he has "a long road to recovery ahead of him" and has suffered multiple serious fractures to his femur, tibia, fibula, and several ribs.
They are raising money to help him pay medical bills and his mortgage while he recovers and is unable to work.
Hopefully, he is able to have a speedy recovery after being given a second chance by a Good Samaritan. "I’m just glad I was there at the right time," Leblanc said, "and I was able to help him.”
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.